Monday, June 30, 2014

American actress Lois Geary died on Saturday June 28,
2014 at her home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Born Lois Ann Geary on July 25, 1929
in Fort Wayne, Indiana she was the second of six children. After living in
Cincinnati, Ohio for 23 years she moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico in 1961. Here
she became a fixture in the arts community, appearing in countless local stage
productions and several films including “Silverado” (1985) and the Terence Hill
Euro-western TV series “Doc West” and its sequel “Triggerman” (2008) as Grandma
Melody Mitchell. Lois was also a tireless advocate for animals, volunteering at
adoption clinics, animal shelters, and with animal habitat conservation groups.

The Almeria City Council announces its Western Film
Festival will be held October 10-12, 2014.

The fourth edition of Almeria Western Film Festival
(AWFF) will be held from October 10 to 12 in Tabernas. This was announced
through a press release at the local council, now its main producer. "The
festival is consolidated after three consecutive years as a key approach to
tourism and cinema showing off Tabernas and the province," while
highlighting that they have the support of the Council of Almería and the Junta
de Andalucía.

The news comes a week after the creators of the event,
Cesar Mendez and Danny Garcia, announced they were disassociating themselves
from the festival after the City recorded the name of the festival. It was
done, according to the mayor Mari Nieves Jaén, to "protect it" and
not to stop them.

Thus, the City of Tabernas says AWFF organization will
have a team "that will give a new impetus to the event."
"Several sections, a western film retrospective and current cinema films
are proposed, and different parallel activities focusing on gender, which will
boost tourism and leisure in our region. We want a festival that fans can come
to see these films for the general public of all ages," says Mari Nieves
Jaén.

Under the current organization, the "main
purpose" of the festival is "to bring value to the town" as the
setting for "recordings in the national and international film
industry," and recall that about sixty years ago what took place in the
early films in the Tabernas desert. "The organization aims to turn the
festival into a cultural and recreational event, national and international,
based specifically on the western character," read the note, which
anticipates that the fourth edition of AWFF allow fans to maintain" a
direct encounter with visiting professionals."

The Council also emphasized that the festival is
"reinvented" in this issue and offer a "program of activities
related to tourism and western Almería as "Land of Cinema."

Danny Garcia:
"This festival is a farce"

The insults continue toward the Almeria Western Film
Festival. "This festival is a travesty," says Danny Garcia after
learning that the City of Tabernas assumes the organizing of the event he
created alongside César Méndez in 2011.

Garcia showed his displeasure after the Consistory
registered the name of the festival without them. Jaen Mayor Mari Nieves
claimed last week to this newspaper that they did so after learning that
"The festival was offered to other municipalities," but never with
the intention to "waive" the founders of AWFF. These statements are
now refuted by Danny Garcia. "We always wanted the festival to develop in
different locations. So we talked with the City of Nijar, because we wanted to
make the opening in San Jose. Our planned projections included the capital
Almeria, but the mayor was not interested in anything happening in
Tabernas."

Garcia, who also claims "30,000 euros was invested
in the first edition," says the AWFF was born to "pay homage to the
movie people who put Almería on the map and not a few village politicians with
delusions of grandeur."

In this regard, the mayor of Tabernas has said that
Garcia and Mendez did not want the politicians to have a presence at AWFF.
"They did not want us to be in the picture, when the festival also had the
support of the Council and Board," said Jaén, who recalls an attempt to
"boycott" the organizers at the close of last year for this reason.

"A councilor threatened to take the prize when
recriminations that appeared on the plates were not the logo of the festival
but of the City Council, and down in small print was seen 'Almeria Western Film
Festival'. They are the ones who sabotaged the event," argues Danny
Garcia.

A trapper apparently kills and Indian who he finds
cheating him in cards. The Indians seeking revenge go after the trapper but he
gives himself up to save his comrades from an attack. The thought to be dead
Indian was only unconscious and comes too and saves the trapper who he then
challenges to a fight to the death

William Gareth Jacob Busey was born on June 29, 1944 in
Goose Creek, Texas. He graduated from Nathan Hale High School in Tulsa,
Oklahoma in 1962. While attending Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg,
Kansas on a football scholarship, he became interested in acting. He then transferred
to Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma, where he quit school just
one class short of graduation.

Busey made his film debut in “Angels Hard As They Come”,
a low-budget 1971 hippies vs. bikers saga, with Busey as a hippie and Scott
Glenn as one of the "big men with throbbing machines". For several
years Busey worked in obscure films and low-profile appearances on TV series,
including playing the last man killed in the final episode of the long-running
western ‘Gunsmoke’. He also worked as a musician, playing drums in several
struggling bands, and on Leon Russell's 1975 album Will O'the Wisp. He was
nominated for an Oscar as the title character in “The Buddy Holly Story”
(1978), but he has since drifted through numerous lesser roles, and is often
typecast as a sneering villain.

In 1995 he suffered a near-deadly double overdose of
cocaine and GHB. Busey has said that he came to God while he was hospitalized
in the aftermath, and after the felony drug charges were dismissed he joined
the Christian men's group Promise Keepers. For the next few years, Busey often
appeared on Christian TV shows, talking about how the group's teachings had
saved his marriage, and was ordained as a minister. In 1999, Busey was arrested
for brawling with his wife Tiani. They divorced in 2001, but soon after, he was
again arrested for allegedly beating her, but prosecutors said there was not
enough evidence to take the case to court.

In 2000 Busey appeared in his only Euro-western “Hooded
Angels” as the sheriff.

Lo Lieh was
born Wang Lap-tat on June 29, 1939 in Pematang, Siantar, Indonesia. After his
parents sent him back to China he attended acting school in Hong Kong, he began
his martial arts training in 1962 and joined the Shaw Brothers Studio in the
same year and went on to become one of the most famous actors in Hong Kong kung
fu films in the late 1960s and 1970s.

Lo played Kao
Hsia in 1970 film “Brothers Five”, alongside Cheng Pei-pei. In 1974 he played Wang
Ho Chiang in his only Euro-western “The Stranger and the Gunfighter”, alongside
Lee Van Cleef. Lieh also appeared in such Hong Kong films as “King Boxer” (aka “Five
Fingers of Death”) (1972), he played Miyamoto in 1977 film “Fist of Fury II”, Lo
played General Tien Ta in the 1978 film “The 36th Chamber of Shaolin”,
alongside Gordon Liu and Lee Hoi San.

In the 1980s,
Lo directed and starred in the 1980 film “Clan of the White Lotus”, he played
the Triad Gangster Boss in 1988 film “Dragons Forever”, alongside Jackie Chan,
Sammo Hung and Yuen Biao. Lo played Fei in 1989 film “Miracles” along with
Jackie Chan, Richard Ng and Billy Chow.

His career
continued into the 1990s and 2000s until 2001 and his last appearance in “Glass
Tears”. He then retied at the age of 62.

Lo died from
a heart attack on November 2, 2002 in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, China. He was 63.

Slim Pickens
was born Louis Burton Lindley, Jr. on June 29, 1919 in Kingsburg, California. He
was an excellent rider from age 4. Lindley graduated from Hanford High School,
Hanford, California and was a member of the FFA. After graduating from school
he joined the rodeo. He was told that working in the rodeo would be "slim
pickings" (very little money), giving him his name, but he did well and
eventually became a well-known rodeo clown.

After twenty
years on the rodeo circuit, his distinctive Oklahoma-Texas drawl, his wide eyes
and moon face and strong physical presence gained him a role in the western
film, “Rocky Mountain” (1950) starring Errol Flynn. Hequickly found a niche in both comic and villainous
roles in that genre. With his hoarse voice and pronounced western twang, he was
not always easy to cast outside the genre, but when he was, as in "Dr.
Strangelove", the results were often memorable. He died on December 8,
1983 in Modesto, California, after a long and courageous battle against a brain
tumor. His brother has acted under the name Easy Pickens [1921-2001]. Slim was
inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame [1982], Pro Rodeo Cowboy Hall
of Fame [2005].

Slim appeared
in one Euro-western: “The Deserter” (1971) as Sergeant Tattinger. He also
appeared as Sheriff McKay in the “The Magnificent Stranger” (1966) that was
made by editing two “Rawhide” TV episodes together and released in Italy to
capitalize on the success of Clint in “Fistful of Dollars”.

Today we
remember Slim Pickens on what would have been his 95th birthday.

Herman Hoffman was born on June 29, 1909 in Montgomery,
Alabama. A filmmaker and screenwriter Herman Hoffman worked for MGM from 1934
through the early 1970s, getting his start making promos for features films.
Hoffman made his feature film directorial bow with “The MGM Story” (1950). In
addition to features, Hoffman was also noted for his documentaries,
particularly such Academy Award-nominated documentaries as “The Hoaxters”
(1952) and “The Battle of Gettysburg” (1955). As a director, he frequently
worked closely with producer Dore Schary. After leaving MGM in the 1970s,
Hoffman went on to direct television episodes.

Hoffman is known to Euro-western fans as the writer of
1968’s “Guns of the Magnificent Seven” starring George Kennedy and Michael
Ansara.

Herman died of pneumonia in Laguna Hill, California on
March 26, 1989.

Today we remember Herman Hoffman on what would have been his 105th
birthday

Saturday, June 28, 2014

We continue our search for film locations for “Texas
Addio” (aka “The Avenger”). After disposing of the eight bandits who have
surprised them when the Sullivan brothers had discovered the dead body of the
girl from the tavern Burt and Jim ride on until till the stop at an old man’s
hut. They inquire if he is Manuel Vargas which he acknowledges he is. Burt asks
about Cisco Delgado but has to pay the old man for his help. Vargas leads them
to a wagon carrying four women and escorted by five men. He tells Burt the
women are Delgado’s prisoners and to go with the men but do not ask any questions.
The two brothers fall into line and follow the wagon through the barren
countryside.

This area is called
the Sierra Alhamilla and is a natural area located northwest of Almeria

Ruggero Maccari was
born on June 28, 1919 in Rome, Lazio, Italy. Maccari was specially known by his
collaboration with film director and screenwriter Ettore Scola. He wrote
italian comedy films such as “Adua e le compagne” (1960), “The Easy Life”
(1962), and “Brutti sporchi e cattivi” (1976).

Judah Bergman was born onJune 28, 1909 in Stepney, London, England. He was apprenticed as a
lather boy in a barber's shop, and began his boxing career at the Premierland,
Back Church Lane, when he was 14. Jewish Berg boxed with a Star of David on his
trunks.

Between 1923 and 1936, Berg had 192 professional fights,
winning 157 of them. His record was 157–26–9. Fifty seven wins were by knock
out.

In 1931 he moved to the USA, where he won 64 out of 76
fights there. He became British lightweight champion in 1934 by beating the
holder Harry Mizler, and he lived to be the oldest British boxing champion.
During his bouts in America, he was trained by legendary boxing trainer Ray
Arcel. His last notable win came in 1939 against the up-and-coming prospect
Tippy Larkin.

After retiring from boxing, he worked as a film stunt
man, joined the Royal Air Force, and owned a restaurant in London. Berg
appeared in as a rider in “Carry on Cowboy” (1965).

He was said to have a flamboyant out-of-the-ring life,
which included an affair with Mae West and to have borne a long-lasting
friendship with fellow East Ender Jack Spot, the colorful (and also Jewish)
gangster.

Berg was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of
Fame, the World Boxing Hall of Fame and the International Jewish Sports Hall of
Fame in 1993.

During an attack on a stagecoach by bandits, two sets of
twins still in diapers are seperated. Two of the kids, are taken by an officer;
the other two, by a bandit. After a few years, the adopted children of the officer
become journalists, the other two wanted bandits. The latter are responsible
for attempt to eliminate the two reporters, but the similarity leads to
misunderstandings that upset the intended crime.

Thursday, June 26, 2014

Eli Wallach: 50 years of being very good, bad and
(occasionally) ugly.

The Guardian

An ability to project villainy or cynicism or worldly
power, often while mounted on a horse, was Eli Wallach's calling card in the
movies. But he also had a kind of stern, cerebral handsomeness.

For the film world in which he worked for more than half
a century, Eli Wallach established his brand identity as "il brutto",
the Ugly, in Sergio Leone's 1966 spaghetti western Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il
Cattivo or The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (Lee Van Cleef was the Bad and Clint
Eastwood, notionally, was the Good). He was Tuco, the duplicitous hatchet-faced
gunslinger who we see announced onscreen with his Ugly moniker, just as he
makes a hideous grimace, having been just rescued from a lynching, the rope
around his neck. He makes common cause with Eastwood's Blondie as they search
for hidden Confederate gold in the old west. Tuco is the predator, alternately
cringing and contemptuously aggressive, raging at Blondie, sneering at others,
shooting someone from his bubble bath who had come to kill him.

Wallach wasn't necessarily a bad guy and certainly not
ugly in his other roles – in fact, he had a kind of stern cerebral
handsomeness, and grew to resemble Sigmund Freud. But his ability to project
villainy or cynicism or worldly power, often while mounted on a horse, was to
be his calling card in the movies. He was a founder member of the actors'
studio, and in the theatre was noted for taking leading roles of great
subtlety, but in films he was in demand as a character player whose face lent
gristle and presence. He was like Ernest Borgnine or Karl Malden but nearly
always cast as the guy wearing the black hat.

Wallach was a generic baddie in the 1961 epic western How
the West Was Won as outlaw Charlie Gant, who has a grudge against George
Peppard's Marshal Zeb and plans rob a train with his gang (including the young
Harry Dean Stanton). In The Magnificent Seven, in 1960, Wallace was Calvera,
another grisly predator, the Mexican villain who with his gang of banditos is
menacing the villagers who have hired the seven to protect them. Confronting
Steve McQueen and Yul Brynner, the slippery Calvera attempts at first to cut a
deal, suggesting they go into partnership and then responds with jeering
incomprehension to the mercenaries' honourable loyalty to their employers. He
jibes: "If God didn't want them sheared he would not have made them
sheep!"

In John Huston's The Misfits (1961) he is Guido, the
questionable buddy of Clark Gable's puffy-faced old cowboy – Guido's designs on
Marilyn reveal his role to be another in Wallach's gallery of rogues, and his
robust "brutto" quality offsets the greater handsomeness of Gable and
his co-star Montgomery Clift.

Wallach worked continuously almost to the very end with
an almost unbroken string of credits, including a mafia don in the ill-starred
Godfather Part III. His last feature was Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, in
which he played a boardroom patriarch who remembers the 1929 crash and looks
old enough to have lived through it. One of his very last films was The
Holiday, a treacly romantic comedy, in which for once he wasn't the bad guy. He
played Arthur Abbott, a twinkly-eyed screenwriter from Hollywood's golden age
who befriends the lovelorn Kate Winslet. In the noughties, Wallach was
beginning to look like an icon of the golden age himself. On the stage, he was
a subtle and complex actor; the movies really valued just one part of his
acting persona, the dark and predatory part, but this powered a mighty career.

Richard Bull was born on
June 26, 1924 in Zion, Illionois. Bull was a character actor and appeared in a
wide range of TV shows, from "Perry Mason" in the 1950s to
"Mannix" in the 1960s to Kelsey Grammer's "Boss" in 2011.
Bull played opposite his wife of 65 years, actress Barbara Collentine [1924- ],
in several projects.

Among the movies he
appeared in were his only Euro-western “Lawman” (1971) and "High Plains
Drifter" and "Executive Action," both in 1973.

Bull died earlier this year
on February 3, 2014 at the e Motion Picture Television Fund campus in
Calabasas, California.

Today we remember Richard
Bull on what would have been his 90th birthday.

Eli Wallach, legendary American character actor best known for his supporting roles in the Western classics "The Magnificent Seven" and "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly," died Tuesday in New York City, at the age of 98.

Born Eli
Herschel Wallach on December 7, 1915 in Brooklyn, New York. Wallach attended college at the University of Texas and earned a master's degree in education at City College of New York. He served as an Army medic in World War II and made his debut on Broadway in 1945.

Wallach won a Tony Award in 1951 for his performance as Alvaro in Tennessee Williams's "The Rose Tattoo," and made his film debut five years later in the Elia Kazan-directed "Baby Doll."
But his two most memorable roles were those of Mexican bandits. In 1960's "The Magnificent Seven," Wallach played Calvera, who regularly raids a Mexican village for food until its inhabitants are forced to turn to the eponymous characters for protection. In 1966, Wallach played Tuco opposite Clint Eastwood in "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly." Eli went on to appear in three more Euro-westerns: "Ace High" (1968) as Cacopoulos, "Long Live Your Death" (1971) as Max Lozoya and "The White, the Yellow and the Black" (1975) as Sheriff Edward 'Black Jack' Gideon)

Wallach is survived by his wife of 66 years, actress Anne Jackson, their three children, and grandnephew A.O. Scott, a New York Times film critic.

During the California Gold Rush a troupe of acrobats
witness a robbery carried out by a gang of alleged Mexicans. The bandits are,
however, Yankees, and the powerful father of one of them exterminates the family
of the sheriff to release the arrested son. The family is saved by the troupe
of acrobats, allied with a Mexican rebel, and together they defeat the evil
outlaws.

Robert Charlebois was born on June 25, 1944 in Montréal,
Québec, Canada. Robert is a Quebec author, composer, musician, performer and
actor. Among his best known songs are Lindberg and Je reviendrai à Montréal.
His lyrics, often written in joual, are funny, relying upon plays on words. He
won the Sopot International Song Festival in 1970.

In 1970 he sang with Italian singer Patty Pravo the
Italian song La solitudine. In the same year, he performed at the Festival
Express train tour in Canada, but did not appear on the documentary film.

He co-starred with Terence Hill, Miou-Miou and Patrick
McGoohan in the western “The Genius” (1975) as Steamengine Bill. Thirty-eight
years later, Charlebois had a cameo as Jean-Seb Bigstone, the French-Canadian
Broadway producer, in the 2012 Gad Elmaleh/Sophie Marceau film “Happiness Never
Comes Alone”.

Donald Eugene
Balluck was born on June 25, 1929 in Cleveland, Ohio. Balluck began his career
acting there and moved to New York in 1956 and to Los Angeles four years later
to pursue writing. His first teleplay was a 1964 episode of "Dr.
Kildare" starring Richard Chamberlain. Balluck went on to write episodes
of "Run for Your Life" and "Daniel Boone," then became
executive story editor for "High Chaparral." He wrote episodes for
the 1970s series "Room 222," "The Rookies," "Streets
of San Francisco," "Starsky and Hutch," "Baretta,"
"Police Woman" and "Hawaii Five-0" and was co-creator of
"Here's Boomer." With producer and actor Michael Landon. Balluck
worked as executive story consultant and wrote for "Little House on the Prairie"
and its spinoff, starring Merlin Olsen, "Father Murphy." More
recently, Balluck was executive story supervisor for "Fantasy Island"
and "Hell Town" and wrote for "Magnum, P.I." and
"Beauty and the Beast." Adept at westerns as well as police drama, Balluck
was an active member of the Western Writers of America. He earned its Golden
Spur Award for a 1982 episode of "Father Murphy" titled "Knights
of the White Camelia." Balluck rarely ventured into motion pictures but
did script the 1969 Euro-western "Four Rode Out" starring
"Bonanza" television veteran Pernell Roberts.

Don was married to
actress Riki Gordon [193?-197?] and is the father of novelist Pamela Jo Balluck
[1958- ] and singer, songwriter Cynthia Jane Balluck [1960- ]. Balluck died in
Burbank, California on April 7, 2000 of lung cancer and emphysema.

Today we remember
Don Balluck on what would have been his 85th birthday.

Luigi Bazzoni was
born on June 25, 1929 in Salsomaggiore Terme, Parma, Italy. Luigi is the elder
brother of the film director and cinematographer Camillo Bazzoni [1934- ]
and a cousin of the Academy Award winner Vittorio Storaro [1940- ].He began his career as assistant director to
Mauro Bolognini. Later he became director of films and short films, gaining
critical attention for two films “A Man, His Pride a Vengeance” and using the
alias Marc Meyer the Euro-western “Blu Gang”. His short film “Di Domenica”
achieved a Special Mention at the 1963 Cannes Film Festival.

Luigi died on March 1, 2012 at
Salsomaggiore Terme, Parma, Italy.

Today we remember
Luigi Bazzoni on what would have been his 85th birthday.

Tuesday, June 24, 2014

One of the UK's top stunt men, Terry Richards, who
starred in more than 100 films including Star Wars and Raiders of the Lost Ark
has died aged 81.

He was known to hundreds of millions of people the world over as
the black clad swordsman felled by Indiana Jones.

David Terence Richards - known to all as Terry - was born
in south London on November 2, 1932.

He went on to serve with the Welsh Guards, and after
leaving the regiment, was working in London as a scaffolder. One of his
friends, also an ex-guard, said a film crew needed extras with military
training, so Terry gave it a go.

After a few successful engagements, he was then asked if
he would fall off the scaffold for a riot scene. The stunt paid a few extra
pounds – and that was the beginning of his career.

Terry Richards joined the film industry proper in 1957,
as an extra then soon as a stunt man, working with Kirk Douglas in The Vikings
(1958).

The Stunt Register, an industry list of accredited
performers, was created in 1960 and Terry was one of its founding members.

Terry appeared as Sanchez in an episode entitles Kidnapped of the Euro-western TV series The New Adventures of Zorro in 1990.

José María Blasco Etxeguren
was born on July 13, 1941 in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Álava, País Vasco, Spain. Txema
didn’t enter the film world until he was 50 years-old, although he had
previously been involved in amateur theater groups where he cultivated his true
passion to be an actor. He soon left his job as an accountant at a metallurgy
company to fully pursue a career in acting.

He worked on three films
with the same director, Pello Varela, among which “Coja usted al siguiente” was
selected at the XXVI edition of the International Film Festival at San
Sebastian. In 1991 he returned to make an appearance in a film by Henry Urbizu:
“Todo por la pasta”. Since then his career has been deeply attached to films,
working with such directors as, Julio Medem, Pello Varela and Montxo
Armendariz.

He has been an actor who
has devoted much time in television acting in the popular series of TVE, ‘Cuéntame
cómo pasó’.

Txema appeared in only one
Euro-western: “The Return of El Coyote” (1997).

Tatiana Filip was born on June 24, 1959
in Bucharest, Romania. At 16 years of age when she was in high school she was
into music and singing with Mircea Diaconu in a singing group. He recommended
her to director Dan Pita, and that maybe because of her freckles, he chose her
for the role of June, the main female role and girlfriend of Romulus Brad
played by Mircea Diaconu in Romanian in the three Transylvania westerns. During
the filming there was a piano on set and she was studying Bach and Beethoven
for her exams. Tania says that she had she received support from her colleagues.
"I was the baby of the band, and they took care of me but also teased me slightly.
Then I entered the Faculty of Theatre and they became colleagues. I grew up as
less-than them. At only 19 years of age Leana made her debut at the National
Theatre in Bucharest with “Hagi Tudose” show conducted by Ion Cojar having as
partner Constantin Rautchi, a magnificent actor.

Today with a Ph.D. she is a Professor
at the National University of Theatre and Film and Director of Master where she
likes to work with young future actors, which hopefully will lead them to a
career in acting. Tatiana married the foreign ambassador Dan Ghibernea [1954- ]
the couple have a daughter Alexandra [1979- ].

Luke Barrett who’s lost his memory after a few blows,
finds out he’s been hired by a gunman who’s made him a proposition to shoot a
certain Dingus. At the time of the attack, Luke arrives in time to prevent a
killing and saves her life and kills the assassin. Subsequently, however, in
trying to reconstruct his identity, he learns the truth about Dingus: he’s, the
son of an Indian woman, but grew up in the home of Barrett, he’s killed Susan,
the wife of Luke, and his brother Victor, thus allowing him to use the Barrett
name and taking control of all their assets. Luke, decided to ask for an
explanation from Dingus, he goes to his ranch where he finds Russel the old family
doctor, who confirms the whole truth. Dingus fearing the vengeance of Luke
tries to kill him but is killed instead.

Monika Woytowicz was born on June 23,
1944 in Barth, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. After graduation Woytowicz
attended actor training at the Drama School Leipzig from 1961-1965

Monika Woytowicz appeared in roles in
DDR movies, as well as in the television series ‘Sachsens Glanz und Preußens
Gloria’ (1983-1984) until she moved in 1983 to West Germany and there continued
her television and film career. She was in the television series ‘Tatort’, ‘Liebling
Kreuzberg’, ‘Siska’, ‘Ein Fall für zwei’, ‘Die Schwarzwaldklinik’, ‘Hotel
Paradies’, ‘Anna Maria – Eine Frau geht ihren Weg’ and ‘Klinik unter Palmen’.

In addition, as a theater actress she
played in Munich, Leipzig and Cologne, went on tour, organized readings,
recitations and solo programs. From 1985 to 1987 she played the tragic role of
Henny Schildknecht in the produced by the Geißendörfer film and television
production for WDR ‘Lindenstraße’ which was very popular in Germany as a whole.
Her daughter Ina Bleiweiß [1968- ] has played the role of Marion Beimer in ‘Lindenstraße’
from 1985 to 1995. In the series Liebling Kreuzberg Woytowicz (1997) she played
the girlfriend of Robert Lovely (Manfred Krug), which deceived her husband.

Monika appeared in two Euro-westerns:
“Osceola” – 1971 as Peggy Kerry and “Kit & Co.” (1974) as Lucille Arral.

She was married to the director Celino
Bleiweiß [1938- ], of which she divorced in 2005. In 2003 Monika developed the
skin disease vasculitis. She now lives in Bogenhausen and has retired from the
film and television business since 2005 and since then holds readings, paints
and wants to concentrate mainly on her family.

Günther Fischer was born on June 23, 1944 in Teplitz
Schönau, Austria-Hungary. He received from his parents’ violin and piano
lessons, and in 1960 founded his own trio for guitar, bass and accordion. From
1960 to 1963 he studied music at the Robert Schumann Conservatory in Zwickau.
1965 to 1969 he continued in his studies at the Academy of Music "Hanns
Eisler" in East Berlin. He took lessons in clarinet, saxophone,
conducting, composition and arrangement. At the same time he played in the
Klaus Lenz Band. In 1967 he founded, together with pianist Reinhard Lakomy,
drummer Wolfgang bitch Schneider and bassist Hans Schaetzke his own jazz band
in 1969 when guitarist Fred Baumert pushed himself to the Günther Fischer
quartet to a quintet (and 1979 with trumpeter Hans-Joachim grass worm advanced
sextet). The band gave concerts with Uschi Brüning and Manfred Krug, later also
with Veronika Fischer and Regine Dobberschütz.

In 1967 he founded a jazz group, which still exists today
as Günther Fischer Band. Concert tours have taken the ensemble including
through Europe, Asia and Africa. From 1969 to 1970, Armin Mueller-Stahl was a
member of the band.

His compositions are stylistically diverse, ranging from
funk and soul-jazz, beat and rock to Song Broken what continues in his later
film music. He wrote, among other things, the film music for “Schöner Gigolo,
armer Gigolo” (Federal Republic of Germany 1978) and “Didi und die Rache der
Enterbten” (Federal Republic of Germany 1985). Even after unification, he wrote
many film scores, such as for the TV series ‘Unser Lehrer Doktor Specht’, ‘Unser
Lehrer Doktor Specht’, ‘Für alle Fälle Stefanie’, ‘Familie Dr. Kleist’.

Fischer composed the scores for three Euro-westerns:
“Tecumseh” (1972), “Death for Zapata” (1976) and “Severino” (1977).

Since 1997 Günther Fischer lives in Cork, Ireland and is
the father of Laura Fischer, who is herself a singer in the band Laura Fischer
& Band and with whom he occasionally appears.

Sunday, June 22, 2014

The Walk of Fame Selection Committee announced today that
Ennio Morricone is among the 30 honorees to receive a star on Hollywood’s Walk
of Fame in 2015. He was selected to receive a star for his live performances on
stage. The Italian composer who is known for such scores as The Good, the Bad
and the Ugly, Once Upon a Time in the West, The Untouchables and The Mission
will be one of roughly a dozen film composers receiving the honor. Previous
honorees include Elmer Bernstein, Alfred Newman, Bill Conti, Maurice Jarre,
Henry Mancini, Max Steiner, Victor Young, Les Baxter, Ernest Gold, Alan Menken,
Randy Newman and Hans Zimmer.

We continue our search for film locations for “Texas
Addio” (aka “The Avenger”). After Delgado eliminates Menendez he’s told by
McLeod that the Sullivan brothers are looking for him. Delgado tells McLeod to
leave them alone. The scene shifts to Tejero Pass where Burt and Jim come upon the
dead body of the saloon girl from the posada tied to a tree while trying to cut
her free they are attacked from two sides by eight riders including the Mexican
Burt beat up in the posada. Burt’s ordered to dig a grave for the girl, himself
and his brother. Burt replies he’ll make it big enough for all of them and he
and Jim unload their pistols into the eight riders.

This location is in a rambla called Rambla San Indalecio.
It is south of Oasys (Mini Hollywood) and was used as the escape route for
Indio and his gang after the El Paso bank holdup in “For a Few Dollars More”.

Olivier
Mathot was born Claude Albert Plaut on June 22, 1924 in Paris, Île-de-France,
France. He began his entertainment career in 1944 and until the 1970s toured
with Gilles Grangier, Jean Dréville, Raymond Bernard, Sacha Guitry, Christian-Jaque.
He then veered towards the erotic and pornographic cinema, appearing in over a
120 films directed by such directors as Jess Franco, Alain Payet and Michel
Lemoine. He directed a few films in the 1980s. Mathot appeared in four
Euro-westerns: “The Return of Clay Stone”, “Three Dollars of Lead” both 1964,
“The Crazy Nuns” (1972) and “Convoy of Women” (1974).

Olivier
died in Paris, France on December 27, 2011.

Today
we remember Olivier Mathot on what would have been his 90th
birthday,

Saturday, June 21, 2014

Aleksandr Aveksandrovich Kavalerov died on June 17, 2015
in St. Petersburg, Russia. Aleksandr was
a Soviet and Russian actor born in Leningrad, Russia, U.S.S.R. on July 10, 1951.
Kavalerov was his mother's surname; his
father was Simon S. Epstein. Starting his cinema career in 1960, at the age of
9, he then appeared in several roles as kids and teenagers. Until 1980 he
appeared in more than 25 movies. Later Kavalerov departed from cinema and
returned again in 1990s-2000s, playing small roles in TV series such as his only Euro-western appearance: "Alaska Kid" (1993) as P'yany v bare.

The year is 2020 and the setting is post-nuclear
holocaust Texas. It's a dusty, nasty world now as can be seen in the opening
scenes when a band of drunken outlaws viciously rape and murder innocent nuns
at a mission. They then crucify the priest. Their debauched reveling is
interrupted by roving rangers who engage the villains in a blood-soaked, bone
crunching fight. The rangers manage to save a terrified young woman from the
melee, and the heroic leader and she fall in love and head for the peaceful
land she describes to him. Years pass. The hero and the girl are married and
she is pregnant. He is working at a refinery. Trouble erupts when a megalomaniacal
Neo-Nazi dictator and his cruel minions attack the heavily fortified refinery
and begin trying to convert the hapless workers to his insane idea of the New
Order. Of course, the hero, after witnessing the rape of his wife, decides to
get revenge. Unfortunately, the dictator blows the hero away with a machine
gun. More time passes and the workers have become slaves to their new leader,
but fortunately at this point, the story is far from over and eventually after
considerably more blood is graphically spilled, the forces of good inevitably
triumph.

Ada Anna Arena was born on
June 21, 1919 in Quiliano, Savona, Liguria, Italy. Anna began, at a very young
age, as a stage actress in local companies; in 1941 she made her entry into films,
playing a small role in “C'è un fantasma nel castello”, by director Giorgio
Simonelli, who specialized in this kind of film. While participating in a large
number of films, Arena’s career was relegated to second tier films as a minor
character actress.

The only exception is her
participation, but still in a secondary role, was in “Il bell'Antonio”, the
film was directed by Mauro Bolognini in 1960 and based on the novel by Vitaliano
Brancati, whose screenplay was also worked on by Pierpaolo Pasolini.

As a side note; the
well-known actor Maurizio Arena (born Maurizio Di Lorenzo) chose his pseudonym
in tribute to the actress, who he was romantically linked for a few years,
despite the strong difference in their age.

Anna appeared in only one
Euro-western: “The Dream of Zorro” (1951) as a washer woman.

Arena died in Jesolo,
Veneto, Italy on August 19, 1974.

Today we remember Anna
Arena on what would have been her 95th birthday.

About Me

Born in Toledo, Ohio in 1946 I have a BA degree in American History from Cal St. Northridge. I've been researching the American West and western films since the early 1980s and visiting filming sites in Spain and the U.S.A. Elected a member of the Spaghetti Western Hall of Fame 2010.